Celebration Dinner
by Stace88
Summary: Amita and Charlie go on the celebration dinner...and this is the outcome. I'm sorry for lack of updates giant excuse included inside!
1. Part One: The Dinner

Just a little something I came up with after last night's little Charlie/Amita moment there. I loved the look on Charlie's face after Amita kissed him! That's all I thought about when I practiced piano afterwards. They're getting so cute, and so much closer!

Rating: PG-13...just cause.

Pairing: Charlie/Amita

Disclaimer: I own nothing...but I will own the DVDs when they come out!

Description: Amita and Charlie are finally going out on that celebration dinner.

Charles Edward Eppes, Professor and Doctor of Mathematics, had never been more nervous in his entire life. Well, no scratch that. He'd been nervous when he and Amita had gone out on that first disastrous date. And my, hadn't that gone well?

This time, however, Charlie knew it was going to work. After all, Amita was the one who'd kissed him in his office...

"Charlie?" the voice of Don, Charlie's older brother, startled him out of his reverie. "What are you doing?"

"Good God Don!" Charlie's hand went to his chest as he tried to regain control of his frantically beating heart. "Don't _do_ that!"

Don's face broke out into a huge grin as he flopped down on the living room couch, placing his gun and wallet onto the coffee table in front of him. "You're looking spiffy tonight. Hot date?" he teased, kicking off his shoes and resting his feet on the coffee table.

"Actually..." Charlie turned back to the mirror to check his hair and tie for the fiftieth time.

"No way!" Don's jaw dropped as he sat up straight, letting his feet fall off the coffee table. "You actually asked Amita out again?"

Charlie blushed slightly, and fixed his slightly crooked tie. "It's the celebration dinner I promised her when she won the Milton Prize," Charlie said as he sat down next to his brother. "The case got in the way a bit, so we never got to have it."

"Just don't blow it this time, okay?" Don nudged Charlie with his elbow.

"Thank you for the sheer lack of faith in me, o brother of mine," Charlie scowled. He looked down at his watch and yelped. "I'm supposed to meet Amita at the restaurant in half an hour! I'll see you later, Donnie."

Don chuckled as his baby brother dashed towards the door. "Charlie, want my car?" he yelled out.

"Sure!" Charlie called from the foyer. He appeared back in the doorway and caught the keys Don tossed at him. "Thanks! Bye!"

"Good luck!" Don called out as the front door slammed shut. His innocent little baby brother was growing up...finally.

Charlie pulled the black SUV to a stop in the parking space closest to the restaurant, and turned off the ignition. He sat in the driver's seat for a moment, thinking about Amita and the time he'd known her. He was infinitely glad he'd ignored his father's advice and waited until now to ask Amita out on another date. After the disaster earlier in the year, they had actually grown a bit closer than they had been before.

Charlie got out of the car and headed up towards the front door of the restaurant. Both Alan, his father, and Don had strongly recommended he make reservations and take Amita to Celestino's, a fancy Italian place not all that far from his house. Amita had seemed excited when he mentioned the name of the place to her, so he took that as a compliment.

Amita herself was waiting for him as he walked into the restaurant. "Hi Charlie," she said, reaching up to kiss his cheek. "Thanks again for this."

"No problem," Charlie said, running his hands through his hair. He turned to the maitre-d and tapped on her podium to get her attention. "Reservation for two under Eppes."

The woman grabbed two menus and motioned for them to follow. "This way, please."

Once they were comfortably seated, Charlie ventured to strike up conversation again. "How are Santi and her sister doing?"

"As well as can be expected," Amita replied, looking at Charlie over the top of her menu. "We talked to some people the other day, and Megan managed to pull some strings so the girls can stay with me until they pick a school and move into the dorm there."

"That's great, Amita," Charlie said sincerely. She looked up at him again and blushed before quickly looking back down at her menu.

A few moments of silence passed, and then Amita broke the silence quietly. "Charlie?"

"Yeah?" he looked up at her quickly, disregarding the menu.

"We aren't going to not talk about work, are we?" Amita asked.

Charlie let out a short laugh. "That didn't work out too well last time, did it?"

"No, no it didn't," Amita said with a smile. "I was meaning to talk to you about what you were discussing in that class today..."

Conversation continued at a fairly steady pace, only letting up slightly when the waiter took their orders, and again when he delivered their food. Somehow, almost magically, they veered away from the topic of mathematics and onto the topic of Amita's upcoming trip to India with her grandmother.

"And then I finally get to meet my cousins, who I've been writing to for years now," Amita said, swirling her fork around her pasta so she could scoop up a portion. "There's a whole side of my family I don't know, and now I finally get to see it first hand."

"It's certainly an eye-opening experience," Charlie said, spearing a slice of gourmet thin crust pizza made with brioche. "You're lucky you get the chance to learn everything about your family. There's so much stuff about Don that I don't know."

"Then why don't you talk to him about it?" Amita suggested.

Charlie shook his head. "Don and I don't talk about past stuff. It brings up some pretty ugly memories."

"I'm sorry, Charlie," Amita reached across the table and lay a hand on his. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Charlie shook his head furiously. "No, Amita. I don't want to ruin your night out here. We're supposed to be celebrating your Milton Prize, not working through my family problems."

Amita patted Charlie's hand briefly and then brought hers back to her side of the table. "Just remember that I'm always ready to talk if you want to," she said.

"Thanks," Charlie smiled shyly at her. He thought about something, and then began smirking at her.

"What?" Amita asked warily.

"Oh, nothing," Charlie took a bite of gourmet pizza.

"Charlie..."

"I said it was nothing, Amita."

"You're a horrible liar, you know that?" Amita glared at her friend.

Charlie laughed. "Yeah, Mom and Don always told me that. Don's always been much better at breaking rules and stuff."

"So tell me," Amita pressed, leaning forward a tad.

"Nope," Charlie leaned back in his chair.

"Charles," Amita warned.

"Ow!" Charlie hissed, sitting up straight and reaching under the table to rub his shin. "You kicked me!"

"I know I did," Amita said proudly. "You going to tell me now?"

"Fine," Charlie grumbled, stuffing the final bite of pizza into his mouth. "I was thinking about the other day, when we were in my office..."

"Oh," Amita said, looking down at her empty plate.

"Why did you kiss me?" Charlie asked.

Amita looked up, straight into his eyes. "Because I really like you," she said strongly. "I thought it would be kind of obvious."

Charlie held Amita's gaze firmly. "Amita, I'm the most oblivious person in the world when it comes to girls. You know that."

"Yeah...I know," Amita said.

They looked at each other in silence for a moment, and then gazed down at their empty plates instead.

As it turned out, Amita had ridden to the restaurant in a taxi because her car had been acting weird. Charlie, being the perfect gentleman he was, offered to drive her home. He then offered her the option of coming over to watch a movie or two as well. Amita accepted both offers, saying that she'd like to go home and change into something more comfortable if they were going to be sitting around.

Charlie sat in the SUV, tapping his fingers along to the beat of the song on the radio as he waited for Amita to emerge from her apartment. It was some old tune from the 1950's by the Andrews sisters called Mr. Sandman. He could remember sitting in the kitchen with his mother, watching her bake and sing along to old records she'd put onto the ancient record player she had kept for years. It was still in Charlie's room, although he hadn't used it for years.

"Sorry it took so long, but I haven't done laundry in a few days," Amita apologized as she got into the car.

"You look fine," Charlie said sincerely. He looked at her for a moment, not completely believing that the beautiful woman beside him actually liked him for himself.

"Thanks," Amita blushed. "Shall we?"

"Of course," Charlie shifted into drive and pulled out onto the road. "We should probably decide what to watch now, so we don't spend forever arguing."

"Didn't you buy that new version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?" Amita asked. "I love that movie."

"Johnny Depp and Tim Burton it is, then," Charlie said, turning the SUV onto his street. "We might have to kick Don out of the living room, if he's still home."

"He can sit on the floor if he'll be good," Amita said. "If he talks, we kick him out."

"You're too nice to him," Charlie muttered, pulling the SUV into his driveway.

Charlie led Amita into the house with a hand in the small of her back. He directed her towards the living room, saying that he was going to pop upstairs to get changed quickly into something a bit more comfortable, just like she had.

Don was seated on the couch, flipping idly through TV channels, when Amita walked in. "Hey Amita," Don said as the tall girl sat down beside him. "What are you doing here?"

"Waiting for Charlie to come down," Amita said, taking the remote from Don's hand and stopping it on a certain channel. "He's changing upstairs."

"Why?" Don asked.

"We're going to watch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," Amita stated, taking her gaze away from CSI for a moment. "Oh, and speaking of which, you're sitting on the floor for this one."

"Fine, but I'm not moving until he comes in," Don said. He leaned towards Amita and spoke quietly. "How did it go?"

"It was...perfect, for lack of a better word," Amita sighed. "There were no limits on discussion topics, so we talked about work. Everything just seemed to...click."

"Much better than the first date, huh?" Don nudged Amita playfully with his wrist.

Amita blushed deeply. "Yeah," she nodded. "Yeah, much better."

Charlie walked into the room and looked warily at Amita and Don. "Donnie...are you scaring Amita?"

"No, and I'm moving to the floor now," Don grabbed a pillow and slid down to the floor. He scooted up towards the TV. "Want me to throw in the DVD?"

"Sure," Charlie said as he sat down behind Amita, throwing his arm over the back of the couch. "So, either of you want to tell me what was happening down here while I was upstairs?"

"No," Don and Amita chorused together.

"Fine," Charlie moped, tossing the DVD player remote down to the his brother, and leaning back against the couch to watch the movie.

Of course, it's rather hard for Charlie to watch a movie when the girl of both his affections and his dreams keeps moving closer and closer to him. By the time the five children were inside the factory, Amita was leaning against his side, her head resting on his shoulder. Fifteen minutes later, she'd put her hand on his left knee. That had began moving not too long after, making small circles and other designs on Charlie's knee. As much as Charlie enjoyed the feel of Amita's hand on his leg, it quickly drove his mind crazy. He reached down and, without taking his eyes off of the TV screen, laced his fingers through hers. Charlie could feel Amita's eyes on him, but he didn't trust himself to look at her. He kept his fairly steady gaze on the movie, grinning as Augustus Gloop fell into the chocolate river.

Charlie's confidence at being able to keep his cool started failing slightly when Don got up and said he was going into the kitchen to make popcorn. His wild eyes followed the elder Eppes sibling as he left the room, throwing a subtle wink at Charlie as he left.

"Are you going to stare at that paused screen all night?" Amita's voice asked from where her head rested on his shoulder.

"Why not? I can calculate different ratios of sizes of things in the room," Charlie said. He was absently running his thumb over top of her knuckles. "In fact, did you know that—Mmph!"

His reply had been stifled by Amita suddenly bringing her head up and kissing him. Charlie could remember exactly what her lips had felt like when she'd kissed him in his classroom, but this time it felt a hundred times better. He moved his free hand up to touch her cheek tenderly before burying it into her black hair. Charlie could feel her hand squeezing his tightly, and the other playing the with small hairs at the back of his neck.

A loud bang caused them both to spring apart. Don walked in a moment later while they were both trying to catch their breath, a huge grin nearly splitting his face in half. "Thought I'd give you two lovebirds a little warning so I didn't walk in on anything scarring," Don teased, putting a large bowl of popcorn on the coffee table. "Dig in, my friends."

Later that night, Charlie drove Amita back to her place. The ride there was quiet, just as the rest of the movie had been. No words were needed, though. They both felt the change in the air. Something was different. Not bad different, just...different.

Charlie stopped the car directly in front of Amita's driveway and turned to face her, only to find that she was doing the same. "I had a really great time tonight," Charlie said, reaching over to link his fingers through hers.

Amita looked down at their intertwined fingers and smiled. "Me too," she said quietly.

"Do you, uh," Charlie paused as his mouth started to go desert dry, "want to maybe try this again sometime?"

"I'd love to," Amita said, turning her gaze to him.

Charlie's face broke out into a huge grin. "How about tomorrow, for lunch? We can sit out on the lawn and talk."

"It's a date," Amita promised.

This time, Charlie closed the gap in between them and kissed Amita quickly. He pulled back, and then briefly pressed another kiss to her forehead. "See you tomorrow," he whispered.

Amita just nodded, and then hurried out of the SUV and towards her front door. Charlie sat and watched as she disappeared inside, his mind already focusing on a task he needed to perform when he got home. It was something he'd just remembered, something his father had told him not all that long ago. And Charlie never broke a single promise.

The next morning when Alan got up, he found an empty house. Don, who he knew had spent the night, was probably back at work, and Charlie had classes along with projects to work on. Instead of waiting around for something to happen, Alan decided to go into the kitchen to see what food was there.

Once he was in the kitchen, however, food was the last thing on Alan's mind. A small piece of paper tacked on the fridge captured his attention quickly, and managed to sate his appetite as well. He took the piece of paper with him and headed back upstairs to get dressed.

_Dad--_

_I know it's a little late, but I promised you a note on the fridge when I had a girlfriend._

_Amita says hi._

_--Charlie_

Thanks for reading! Press the little button at the bottom of the page and leave your thoughts. I'll even continue if enough of you want me to. I hope you guys liked it!


	2. Part Two: The Morning After

_Because Cora Clavia's new fic inspired me, here's another part. Thanks for all the awesome reviews! I love you guys!_

_The fact that finals are coming up means that I might not be able to post as much as I can. We have inschool exams this week, and then government stuff next week. I'll get as much stuff done during my little bit of free time as I can!_

_For disclaimer, etc., see the first part._

Charlie had never felt more rested before, and he was sure he knew why. He had woken up extra early, and had felt the stupid smile plastered all over his face. Don, who had spent the night in his room upstairs, had been the first one to comment on Charlie's expression, and had done it with brotherly glee. Charlie hadn't felt like driving or biking, so he made the grave mistake of catching a ride with his older brother. Don did nothing but make fun of Charlie's smile and what had happened the night before.

"I can't believe my little brother's growing up," Don gushed, knowing that it would only annoy his brother further. "Seems like just yesterday we were fighting over Val on the front lawn."

"However, this time it's different because you don't have a crush on Amita," Charlie sing-songed. "And even if you did, you don't have an ice cube's chance in hell with her, because she likes me."

"Your good mood has now official made me nauseous," Don announced, coming to a stop outside CalSci's math building. "Get out. I'll be back in time to pick you up for dinner."

Charlie got out of the car, but not before he turned the huge grin on his brother again. "Bye Donnie, have a fantastic day!" he said chipperly.

Don reached across the front seats, pulled the passenger side door shut with a slam, and pealed out of the parking lot as fast as he could. Charlie chuckled, shouldered his backpack, and hurried up the steps towards the building.

"Charles! Charles, wait up!" Larry Fleinhardt's voice floated down the hallway towards him. Charlie, who had been wrapped up in his thoughts, barely heard him, but stopped and looked at the frantic physics professor curiously. "You walk faster than you used to, Charles."

"Sorry Larry," Charlie said, slowing down his pace so his friend could keep up. "Did you want something?"

"My calculations you promised to finish for me last night?" Larry reminded him. "Did you finish them?"

Charlie hit his forehead. "Oh Larry, I'm so sorry! I completely forgot," he said, feeling like a complete heel. "I got sidetracked last night and--"

"Hi Charlie," Amita said, coming up to them from where she'd been standing outside Charlie's office door.

"Amita, hi," Charlie said as his mouth went bone dry. "Want to come in and talk?"

"Sure," Amita smiled at him and followed him into the office.

Larry just shrugged and walked away. "At least the cosmos isn't against us today," he muttered.

Inside the office, Charlie dropped his pack down beside his desk and sat in his chair. "You wanted to talk?" he asked.

Amita perched herself on the corner of his desk. "I just want to let you know that I had a wonderful time last night. I know I already said that, but I just wanted to let you know again."

"And we're still on for lunch?" Charlie asked hopefully, reaching out and putting his hand lightly on Amita's knee.

"Definitely," Amita said, covering his hand with her own and linking their fingers. "I've been looking forward to that since last night."

Charlie stood slowly, never taking his hand from Amita's knee. "Funny, because that's exactly what I've been thinking about too," he said quietly, using his free hand to trace a line down Amita's cheek.

"Charlie," Amita breathed.

Charlie leaned forwards and brushed her lips with his. Just as he tried to pull away, Amita reached out and pulled him closer so he stood in between her legs. He let go of her hand and used his to comb her hair back from her face, much like he had the night before.

"Hey Charlie, I know I just left you but---Aww, jeez!" Don's sudden appearance caused the two mathematicians to spring apart. Don stood by the door, covering his eyes with his hand. "Not something I wanted to walk in on, you two. Your discussions on some boring math thing would be preferable."

"Sorry Don," Charlie said from his reclaimed spot in his desk chair. "Did you need something?"

"Yeah," Don uncovered his eyes and handed Charlie a folder. "These just came in from D.C. There's some bank fraud thing going on that's now been connected to L.A."

Charlie and Amita glanced at each other almost instantaneously. "D.C., huh?" Charlie smirked knowingly at his older brother. "Any particular reason why you were put on this case, Donnie?"

"Shut up," Don grumbled, crossing his arms and glaring at his brother. "Look, can you glance through here and tell me what you know? I need some stuff to work on when the lead agent from D.C. gets here later tonight. Call me when you're done."

Amita glanced down at Charlie with her eyebrows raised as Don left the room. "Is it just me, or do you have a feeling about the D.C. agent too?"

Charlie nodded, staring after his older brother. He had more than just a little feeling about who was coming to visit that night, and he wondered just how Don would take it.


	3. Part Three: She's Baack!

_I'm too nice to you guys. I really am. Actually, I'm just addicted to my own story, so I keep procrastinating about my stuff (ex, the writing project that's due tomorrow) and writing this._

_Thanks to everyone who reviewed and liked it! I love you guys! This is, once again, for Cora...and she'll get another soon if she updates any story!_

Don got to his office a little bit later, still a tad disturbed at what he'd witnessed. He was glad that Charlie had finally come to his senses, but walking in on your brother making out with his girlfriend was akin to walking in on your parents. It just wasn't something you even wanted to happen.

He ended up standing in front of the elevator, caught up in his thoughts, when Megan Reeves arrived. She noticed the slight smirk on his face and nudged him to get his attention. "You look happy about something," she noted.

"Holy—Megan, don't _do_ that!" Don scolded, taking a deep breath to calm his racing heart.

"Glad to know I've finally risen to a goddess-like level in your eyes," Megan teased.

"All right smart ass, what do you want?" Don asked, rolling his eyes as the elevator doors finally opened and the two agents slid in.

"Did David catch you with those papers from D.C.?" Megan pressed the button for their floor and watched the doors slide shut.

"Yeah, and I got them to Charlie," Don said, trying to stifle another smirk as he thought of his brother.

"Don..." Megan scrutinized her friend closely, "what's up with you and Charlie?"

"Nothing," Don said as the doors opened to reveal their floor. "Nothing at all."

"You're no fun, Eppes," Megan pouted.

David Sinclair's sudden appearance halted further complaints from Megan. "Don, the D.C. agent got here while you were gone," he said, trying to balance three large boxes of files in his arms. "She wants to look through all of these."

"Let me help you," Don relieved the younger man of two boxes before turning back to the woman beside him. "Megan, find Colby and drag his ass in here if you need to. Agent's here ten hours early, so we have to get a move on things now. David, lead the way."

"I swear they said seven in the evening, Don," David said as he led the way to where the D.C. agent was waiting. "Instead, she showed up here at nine-thirty with luggage and a thirst to start work."

"Funny, that sounds just like--" Don backed into the conference room and immediately froze when he turned around and saw who had flown in from D.C.

"You know Don, your face could freeze that way," Terry Lake smirked at her friend and former partner.

Don dropped the two boxes of files, narrowly missing David's feet, and swept the petite blonde woman up into his arms. "Terry!" he cried, twirling her around. "I should've guessed the D.C. agent would be you!"

"The assistant director mentioned an L.A. link, and I immediately requested a transfer out here," Terry whispered into his ear.

"You, my dear, look fabulous," Don said as he pulled back to look at Terry. The short jeans skirt, tank top, and slightly faded jeans jacket made her look much more youthful than before.

"Freedom can do that to a girl," Terry said, shrugging out of her jeans jacket and tossing it onto a nearby chair.

Don's gaze automatically went to her left hand, and he quickly noted the bare ring finger. "Terr, I'm sorry..." he began

Terry waved him off. "Don't be. It's all for the best, Don," she said firmly.

"Don?" Megan poked her head into the conference room. She noticed Terry right away, and acted oblivious as to their proximity to each other. "Oh, hi there."

"Megan Reeves, meet Terry Lake," Don introduced the women quickly. "Terry used to be the profiler on my team before she moved to D.C. last year."

Megan could feel the territorial waves radiating off of the other agent and decided to make a quick escape. "Granger's not answering his phone, so I'm off to give him his own personal wake up call," she announced. "Cell's on if you need to reach me."

Don noticed the curious look on Terry's face as Megan scampered away. "Yeah, we needed two to replace you," he said. "They're both fairly fresh, so David and I have had our hands full."

"Speaking of me, I'm going to see if we have any other files that might be useful," David said as he exited the room, shutting the door behind himself.

"So Terry," Don sat down and motioned for Terry to do the same. He waited until she'd obliged until he continued. "We haven't talked for quite a while."

"No, we haven't," Terry looked Don directly in his eyes, knowing better than to look away from him.

"Terr, what happened?" Don asked softly, leaning forwards slightly. "I thought you were going back to reconcile?"

"Don, could we not talk about this here?" Terry hissed. "It isn't exactly conference room talk."

"All right then," Don leaned back. "Let's bring up the topic of where exactly you're staying. I take it from the suitcases sitting on the floor behind you that you didn't get a hotel room booked before you left?"

"The AD said he'd do it, but he forgot," Terry muttered.

"You'll stay in my apartment with me, then," Don said firmly, leaving no room for argument. "Don't even think about saying anything different. You've done it before, and this time you don't have anywhere else to go, do you?"

"But I don't want to kick you out of your room!" Terry protested.

Don shrugged. "I got a far more comfortable couch. This one actually pops out as a bed. I'll be fine Terry, really. Besides, Dad and Charlie will be ecstatic that you've come back."

Terry, just as Megan had, noticed the smirk that graced Don's features as he mentioned Charlie's name. "All right Eppes, what was that smirk for?" she demanded, switching into full agent-mode.

Don swallowed, knowing that there was no getting out of telling Terry what was going on. "I, uh, walked in on Charlie and Amita making last night," he said quietly.

Terry shrieked, and quickly covered her mouth. "I can't believe it!" she squealed quietly. "Took them long enough."

"Well, apparently they liked doing that, because I walked in on them going at it again in Charlie's office this morning," Don said.

"A lot has happened since I've been gone," Terry commented, running her fingers through her hair.

"Yeah, a lot has happened," Don echoed wistfully, eyes locked on Terry.

David stopped just outside the conference room door, arms full of several file folders. He noticed the intense staring contest his two mentors seemed to be in, and deemed it unwise to go barging in. He turned on his heel and hurried away, telling himself that he'd come back in ten minutes to make sure they hadn't killed each other or anything. With Don and Terry, you could never tell what was going to happen.


	4. Part Four: Campus Lunch

_All right, here comes excuse time. First of all, I lost my original copy of this when I got back from Honour Band a month ago. Then, I had to practice a lot because I had to record my audition CD for universities. After that came music festival, which just finished (my solos, anyways) on Tuesday. I had a lot of math homework to catch up on (which I'm still doing) after that, and **then** I found out that I've been invited to compete in the scholarship competition for the fourth time. It's when all the top musicians from every category (I'm representing woodwinds) compete for scholarships that can be used to enhance your music stuff. I'm really hoping I win, since woodwinds haven't won for almost eight years now._

_Last night's episode inspired me to finish this chapter. How many of you felt bad for Charlie at the end like I did?_

_Oh, and one last thing:_

_Cora---**UPDATE**!_

* * *

The bright Californian sun beat down on the campus grounds of CalSci, and on the head of Charlie Eppes. He shielded his eyes from the bright light with a pair of his brother's sunglasses he'd pilfered from Don's SUV that morning. Several students waved at him, clearly wanting him to come and sit with them during their lunch break. Charlie, however, merely waved back and kept on walking, his eyes peeled for one person only. They had made plans to eat lunch together in the shade of one of the campus's trees, but Charlie couldn't see her anywhere.

Finally, a sudden flash of light caught his attention, and he whipped his head to the right. There sat Amita, scribbling furiously in her notebook with a silver pen that kept catching the sun's light. He turned abruptly and headed towards the object of his affections, pushing his unruly hair out of his face.

"Amita," Charlie said as he sat down beside her. "You awake in there?"

"What?" Amita's head shot up and she blinked a few times before recognizing Charlie. "Oh, Charlie. Sorry about that. Kepler wants me to take over a few more of her classes, so I have to finish prepping for that."

"You were just in a very me-like trance there," Charlie observed. He removed the pen from Amita's fingertips and placed it, with the notebook, in front of them on the ground. "You've been spending far too much time around me."

"Is that such a bad thing?" Amita asked, tilting her head to the side and winking at him.

"Not in my books," Charlie said, leaning forward and brushing his lips lightly on hers. He pulled back a moment later, noting with a small smirk the glares Amita was receiving from nearby female students.

"What?" Amita asked, noticing the look on Charlie's face.

"Oh, nothing," he said, shifting backwards so he could lean against the tree. "Did you bring food? I thought you said you were going to bring food."

"The main thing that makes you Don's brother is the insatiable appetite you both possess," Amita teased. She reached over to the right and put a large paper bag in front of Charlie. "I ordered Chinese just before lunch, so dig in."

"You rock," Charlie stated, reaching into the bag and pulling out chopsticks and two cartons. He handed one of each to Amita and set the others in front of himself. "Dig in."

The two sat with their backs to the tree, eating and talking happily. Neither of them noticed the murderous looks female students were still sending Amita, or the rather scathing glares men sent at Charlie. They were perfectly happy and content in their own little bubble.

"There the two of you are!" Larry's voice broke through their defenses and brought them back to the real world.

"Oh, hey Larry," Charlie said, reaching into Amita's food carton to spear a chicken ball for himself.

"Have you finished those calculations yet?" Larry asked, sitting himself down next to Charlie.

Charlie nodded, trying to swallow the piece of chicken quickly. "They're sitting on my desk in my office, so you can pick them up whenever you want," he said.

Larry looked around, wilting slightly under the glares of the students surrounding the three adults. "You two do realize that you are not in a very private place, don't you?" he asked nervously.

"They're the ones looking," Amita said, reaching across Charlie to grab a container of chop suey. "We were here first."

"Yes, technically you were, but--" Larry tried to continue.

"Hey, Chuck!" Don's voice cut through the slightly more quiet than normal spring day.

Charlie and his two colleagues turned around to see Don and Terry walking towards them from the opposite side of campus. "Terry!" he cried, scrambling to his feet and hurrying towards the female agent.

"Hi Charlie," Terry laughed, accepting and returning the eager hug the young mathematician offered. "How are you?"

"I'm fine. How are _you_?" Charlie asked, a huge grin on his face as he pulled back. Out of all of Don's old girlfriends, Terry had been the nicest to him from day one, and he'd always thought of her as a sister of some sorts.

"I'm great, thanks," Terry said, walking over to where Larry and Amita were sitting.

"Welcome back, Terry," Amita said, getting up to hug Terry warmly.

"Yes, welcome back to California, Agent Lake," Larry added.

"Dr. Fleinhardt, you can call me Terry," Terry said, shaking his hand and smiling down at him.

"Larry, then," he squinted up at her in the bright sunlight. "What brings you back to this side of the country?"

"Case," Terry stated, sitting down on the blanket beside Larry. Don joined her, and both mathematicians reclaimed their seats as well. "Something from Washington got carried over here, and I applied for a transfer."

"It's great to have you back," Charlie said.

Don picked up Charlie's abandoned carton of Chinese food and poked around with the chopsticks. "You guys were eating and you didn't even invite us?" he glanced over at his brother.

"Give me that," Charlie tried to grab the food out of Don's hand, but the elder sibling held it just out of his younger brother's reach. "Hey! No fair!"

"And just like that, they're children again," Terry whispered to Amita and Larry, who tried to hide their responding laughter.

Charlie grabbed one of Amita's half empty cartons and snagged his chopsticks back from the other carton. "I heard that, Terry."

"As much as I'm glad to see you again, Terry," Amita attempted to steer the conversation in a different direction, "is there a certain reason you and Don came to seek us out this afternoon?"

"The fraud stuff," Don said, chewing a piece of broccoli quickly. "Did you get a chance to glance at the stuff I gave you this morning, Charlie?"

"I peeked at it briefly while finishing Larry's equations," Charlie answered. "As soon as we're done here, Amita and I will start going through them. What kind of fraud is this, anyways?"

"It's a major investigation that's been going on for almost a year in DC," Terry explained. "I took over when I got there. A bunch of accounts belonging to White House officials got cleaned out by an unknown source over a period of seven months. It was all done a certain way, according to our consultants from the area. Nothing happened for a couple of months, and then I got a call from Merrick saying that several of the accounts belonging to officials in both the senator's and governor's offices had been cleaned out. We analyzed it and found out that they had been done the exact same way. I got sent out here to see if we could come up with anything more than what my agents have found in DC already."

"We'll head inside right now and check it out," Charlie said, standing and giving Amita a hand up. "You and Terry are welcome to whatever is left in those cartons."

"Thanks buddy," Don said as the two mathematicians hurried towards the front doors of the math building, Charlie guiding his girlfriend with a hand in the small of her back.

"They're so cute," Terry said quietly, making Don grin and nudge her playfully in response.

Larry observed their subtle movements and wisely decided to make himself scarce. "I'll be preparing for my next class if either of you feel a need to contact me," he announced, getting to his feet and hurrying off towards the same doors Amita and Charlie had just gone through.

"And you say that Megan Reeves likes him?" Terry gazed curiously after the physicist. "Larry's nice, but he's a bit..."

"Odd?" Don offered, plucking a nearly full carton of sweet and sour chicken balls from the ground. "But he's Larry. There's no one else like him."

"That's for sure," Terry said as she snatched a sweet and sour chicken ball from Don's carton.


	5. Part Five: Realizations

_A lot of things have come up lately, and that has provoked the lack of updates.My dad had a heart attack (he's okay now), I had three university auditions (so far have gotten accepted at one, rejected at another, waiting to hear from the third), and a band trip that included three hospital visits in the first two days (one of which I attended as the girl's close friend). School is also coming to a close for me (four weeks left!) and that means I have provincial exams as well as the tutorials leading up to them. I've also got the provincial music festival in three weeks, plus my piano exam the week after that. Whew. So, in other words, that is my excuse for lack of updates. This summer, however, I'm going to be house-sitting for six weeks, and will probably have an infinite amount of time to myself so I can write on the brand new laptop I'm getting in a month!_

_So Cora...can we expect an update on something sometime soon? I love Hospitality, but there are so many other things that you were working on and never finished. Consider this chapter...a bribe, shall we say, to get you to update more. I'm starting another story (stupid creative mind), and it's totally DT! Cora, update, girl!_

* * *

Don and Terry had gotten no answer from the two mathematicians by the time they'd finished eating, so Don told Charlie to just phone him if they found something, and the two FBI agents drove back to the office. They had fallen back into their usual bickering about Don always driving and never letting Terry have her turn behind the wheel. As they argued, both agents were thinking about how they missed the certain connection that they seemed to have with no one else but each other.

"I mean, I'm a competent driver! I've never gotten into an accident," Terry argued as they pulled into the parking garage of the FBI building.

"There was that one incident at Quantico," Don reminded her, pulling into his assigned parking space.

"That was a crappy car!" Terry protested. "It was the entire reason I almost ran into that telephone pole."

"If I can seem to remember correctly, Terr, you were singing along quite loudly to a song on the radio at the time," Don said as he and Terry both got out of the car. "I doubt that that was the car's fault."

Terry was just about to make a smart retort when a chipper female voice broke through the afternoon air. "Oh Don! Don, wait up!"

Don turned around, bringing Terry with him using his hand on her elbow, and his face fell when he noticed the blonde woman hurrying towards them. "Oh, crap," he muttered, making Terry giggle softly.

"Don, I'm so glad I found you!" Nadine Hodges looked suspiciously at Terry as she approached the two agents. "And you are..."

"Special Agent Terry Lake," Terry said, sticking out her hand for Nadine to shake.

The lawyer ignored Terry's proffered hand, and instead focused all of her attention on Don. "So, I hear you picked up the bank fraud case," she said, moving a bit closer to the male agent. "Rumor has it that it's connected to something I'm doing."

"Really?" Don raised an eyebrow at his former partner before turning his attention back to the lawyer. "Terry and I have to get back to work now, but if you find anything, send a message to the office for me. You know Megan's and David's numbers, right?"

"We'll talk about things over lunch sometime," Nadine said, laying her hand on Don's forearm and giving it a slight squeeze. "I'll call you."

Terry watched Nadine strut away with a look of partial astonishment. "She's a piece of work," the blonde agent stated.

"Yeah, she's something all right," Don said, steering Terry towards the front doors.

"What was her name, again?" Terry asked. "I never caught it...or was it that she never told me?"

"Nadine Hodges," Don said, holding the front door open for his former partner. "She's a lawyer who works on a lot of our cases."

"And?" Terry nudged Don slightly to continue as they headed for the elevator.

Don sighed. "And we went out a couple of times just after you moved. That was a few months ago, though."

"You're such a hermit when it comes to relationships," Terry teased, walking into the elevator with Don close behind.

"Am not," Don grumbled as he pressed the button for their floor. "I just choose to throw myself fully into my work and not into the social scene of Los Angeles."

"Which, if I'm allowed to say so, is an excellent choice," Terry stated, leaning against the far wall.

"I mean, can you really see me out partying with some of the people who live out here?" Don continued, ignoring Terry's comment.

"Honestly? No."

"I spend most of my free time with Charlie and Dad, or sitting at my apartment watching baseball," Don said. A look of terrified realization floated across his features, and he turned to Terry, who was trying with all her might not to laugh as Don realized what he had just described. "Oh good God, I _am_ a relationship hermit!"

The elevator doors opened, filling the entire floor with the sound of Terry's laughter. The floor's seemingly only occupants, Don's team, all lifted their heads to see a barely standing Terry leading a pouting Don towards their desks, the latter shooting death glares at the woman as they approached.

"Find anything yet?" Don asked, dropping down in his chair and deliberately turning so his back was to Terry.

Megan pretended not to notice her boss's childish antics and handed him several sheets of paper instead. "Colby dug through some old files and came across an old case that wasn't dissimilar from this one. The two guys arrested in connection with that one are still locked up, but they have kids out in the world still."

"And you're thinking that their kids could've done this," Terry added, perching on a small clean part of Don's desk. She was slowly beginning to see what the other profiler had compiled in her mind. "Their parents taught them the tricks of the trade and are now sitting back, watching proudly as their offspring perform the task for them."

"To the 't', Terry," Megan said happily, grinning at her fellow profiler.

"So now what?" Don rubbed his forehead with his fingertips.

"We need to somehow connect these frauds to these kids," David said as he fanned himself with a bunch of old case files.

"We also need to turn the temperature down in here several hundred degrees," Colby unbuttoned several buttons on his dress shirt and shed his tie quickly.

"Washington is looking for leads as well," Terry said from her perch on the desk. "I should probably call and give these names to my team back there."

Don handed the papers behind him and leaned his head back to rest on her leg so he could see her. "Use the fax machine in conference two. It's faster and quieter."

"Will do, thanks," Terry moved Don's head out of the way and hopped down off the desk, making her way towards the conference room.

"Don," Megan scrutinized her friend's face carefully, "something's up."

The elder FBI agent watched in amusement as Colby and David muttered something about washing the dishes in the coffee room and scrambled off to get away from the potentially uncomfortable talk that was probably going to ensue. "Terry and I ran into Nadine in the parking lot," Don began.

"Nadine, that blonde lawyer who's been trying to sink her claws into you?" Megan pulled her legs up underneath her to sit Indian style on her office chair.

"The one and only," Don nodded. "The encounter wasn't the most comfortable experience in the world, to put it lightly."

"Ouch," Megan winced. "No blood was drawn?"

"Not physically," Don said, remembering how vile the looks Nadine had shot Terry were.

"Don," Megan said slowly, "there's something I want to ask you, but I don't want you to get mad."

"What?" Don asked suspiciously.

"Is there something going on between you and Terry?" Megan asked, deciding not to mince her words. "I know all about your history—David told me—and I'm just wondering if there is still something in between the two of you."

"I'm not sure," Don said, his eyes drifting to settle on Terry's profile, watching as she chatted with someone from her team in Washington. "I'm honestly not sure."


End file.
